JOSH & REVA LEWIS, GUIDING LIGHTIn contrast to most lavish soap weddings, which often travel to exotic locales that have nothing to do with the characters getting married, GUIDING LIGHT went back to Cross Creek, the hometown of Reva and Josh Lewis, for this year's best wedding. It made sense for these two to go back to their roots, to the place where they fell in love. Sequences filmed in Milford, Pennsylvania, set a lovely pastoral backdrop for the hordes of Shaynes, Lewises and friends who traipsed in for the big day. By the end of the week, we felt like one of the invited guests. Diverse background music -- from Bonnie Raitt singing "Home" to John Hiatt's "Have A Little Faith In Me" to excerpts from Mason Williams's "Classical Gas" album -- was especially memorable but also a welcome change of pace from those incessant soap opera love themes that are drummed into viewers' ears.

Reva and Josh's wedding also provided a wonderful look at the pasts of the show's central characters, while at the same time setting the stage for the future family story -- Dylan was introduced and Hawk and Sarah were brought to the forefront of the drama. And doesn't everyone have someone like Billy, who runs around with the video camera getting stupid interviews from guests?